August 31, 2011

Well, the Boston Summit was a smashing success and we would like to thank everyone in attendance for their continued interest and support in this awesome yet crazy hobby.. A fun time was had by all, deals were made and new alliances formed. Oh yeah, we also made some kick ass exclusives..

That being said, we have just a few leftovers that we would like to offer to our brothers and sisters who could not close the deal on coming out. Let me introduce our SICK Gekiganger inspired Summit exclusive…

August 30, 2011

…..Are there any Jumbo Machinder collectors out there who haven’t wished that they possessed a Jumbo they couldn’t find or afford? Of course not, or you wouldn’t be a Jumbo collector. But how about wishing for a Jumbo that was never made? I know I have wished for a few, including Boss Borot, Albegas and of course Lightan (just kidding). I did a few minor alterations to existing Jumbos which were definitely cool, but not entirely satisfying. I decided it was time to try and make a Jumbo that I didn’t already have.
*Note: this occurred around 1996*

…..My first project was an attempt to make a Mazinga Z starting from a Mattel Great Mazinga head and Dragun body. This ended up looking like hell and shaming my shelf, but luckily UniFive re-released Mazinga Z and I was able to replace it. A little discouraging, but I was soon inspired again by a game I saw that included a plastic Bioman head that appeared to be roughly Jumbo-sized. I bought it from a guy in Taiwan, the head turned out to be exactly Jumbo-sized and the Biorobo Project was born.

…..The next step was a suitable base body and I decided that Daimos was the one, so I waited until I found a loose Daimos for cheap and then got started. I know there has been some discussion about what type of paints stick and don’t stick to polyethylene plastic, but I used regular sandable spray primer, then a flat black, with no difficulties. If you try to pull off a sticker once it is on, you may peel the paint off, but it can otherwise be handled normally without a problem. I tried a gloss black on the Mazinga Z project, it was sticky and peeled off easily, so I recommend flat-finish paints. I painted the entire torso, legs and fists of Daimos black, leaving only the red forearms original. Luckily, the Daimos body required very little physical modification to become Biorobo, one of the reasons I think it turned out to be so much more successful than the Mazinga Z.

….. The stickers were created in Illustrator and Photoshop using the Bandai GoDaiKin Biorobo as my guide, and printed on adhesive sheets using a laser printer.The only custom additions I had to make were the belt buckle in the front, the wings on the back and the pointy shoulders. These pieces are all made of cardstock, cut out, folded, glued and painted. I also added two small cuffs to the fists so they matched, cut from a paper towel tube and painted the same black as the rest. The missile holders added to his legs were originally on the shoulders of a Great Mazinga, and replaced the Daimos leg launchers (though I think those would look good as well, I just didn’t have any extra Daimos missiles). I decided to use both of the Daimos straight, non-shooting upper arms for Bioman, leaving my Daimos with two hinged arms (though the left fist doesn’t shoot). Beware my fearful symmetry! To make the shooting right fist fit on the non-shooting arm I cut a small square in the end to accommodate the peg.

…..Overall I’m very happy with the way he turned out. Even right next to his body-double Daimos I think he looks distinct and original.

….Are you interested in a Biorobo Jumbo of your own? Check the thread in the BBS, I am including the sticker sheets and cardstock guides there.

Well, I guess that’s it, good luck to my fellow customizers out there and keep the Jumbo ranks growing! -ChemicalEggs

August 8, 2011

They said he was from Japan and that accounted for his funny accent but it was clear to me he weren’t no Japaner. They said his metal body was the result of wounds he’d received in a war or some such but I never believed that, not for one minute. Who ever heard of such a thing; a metal body?

He wasn’t a this earth, I tell you, not even this time, maybe. Sell my mother if it aint true.

What kind of a name is “Brayza,” anyway? It aint Japanese, that’s for sure. If he was a real Japaner they would’na never let him open up that restaurant a his, never woulda let him sign the lease. Oh, no, he wasn’t from here, that’s clear as the nose on m’face!

That crawly voice a his! All raspy and metallic like a giant insect with a spring, scrapin’ up the insides of a tin box. And him always tryna talk to motorcars and machines and the like as much as to people. You call that normal?

I tell you, that restaurant a his was a waitin’ place for his unholy friends! Why else would he a-called it the “Electric Lunch?” And the food! Good god almighty, who’d a-thunk a-such stuff? Green slimy weeds you never heard of all mashed up with fat, wormy noodles and stinkin’, sticky sauces with gaggy, fishy meat he got from who the hell knows where – it was enough to make you sick. Some claimed t’like it, if you you can believe that. He actually had reg’lars but I never trusted any that’d dine in there more than once.

He just weren’t cookin’ fer humans. Nossiree.

I don’t know as many people know this but he’d sit in there at nights sometimes, after hours and back in the dark, all kinda glowin’ and a-hummin’ and a-bip-boop-beepin’ along by himself. Just bidin’ his time, bidin’ his time. War wounds my puckered butt …

I tried to tell people, tried to warn ‘em, but they jus’ laugh’ me off even though not a-one of ‘em felt too sure around him themselves, if you pressed ‘em on it. Why the hair on yer neck would go up just from his passin’ you on the street, sometimes when you weren’t even lookin’ to know he was there. Him and his wheezy clank, clank, clank. There weren’t a dog in town who would stand him without barkin’ and growlin’ without end, and he *never* went t’church. Not once.

Well, one day the Electric Lunch just didn’t open up. It never did again ’til the bank took it and the works. What I would’n a-paid t’poke around back there in his dinky little room but they weren’t brookin’ no nosin’ around. No sir, it was all business and the next thing you know it’s a shop durn fulla gew gaws and what-nots fer gussied-up dudes and little, frilly girls, run by that ol’ Jew fellah, whatshisname. Not a bad sort for all that, to tell the truth.

Anyway, some say ol’ Brayza got tied up in shady dealin’s and hadda take it on the lam. Others like to joke that we’ll find him rusting away in the woods some day, or that he made a durn-fool attempt at swimmin’, him with all that metal on ‘im, an’ he’s at the bottom a some lake somewhere but not me, no sir, not me. An’ you can see by my hand a-pointin’ where I knowed he gone: up, an’ I don’t mean t’his jus’ rewards.

I look up nights, when it’s cool and clear, and I wonder when that sumbitch is gonna come back, come back here with his danged army when we’re all fast asleep. You mark my words: watch the damn sky!